In honor of Memorial Day

Not sure if "happy" is the right word for it, but all the best to you and yours on this Memorial Day. I can't thank them in person, but here's to all the men and women who gave their lives to defend our home, our families, and our way of life. May you all have a wonderful, happy Memorial Day.
From Laura, Chris and Shadow.

Peek-a-boo

Ninety degree weather means lots of water, which means tons of accidents for a puppy who isn't fully housebroken. He may be hiding his head in shame here, but it doesn't take long for perfect angel Shadow to reappear.

I've had him for about six weeks now, and he's definitely starting to become the loyal best buddy I've always imagined. To use a quote I recently came across from Bernard Willliams, "There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face." I completely agree.

Shadow Does His Chores

Now a whopping three months old and almost too heavy to be carried down the stairs, Shadow has all but taken over the house. A few days ago he also deemed my deck cleaning job subpar and decided he could do better...   I think he might need the instruction manual though...

(Double click on video to watch larger version on YouTube.)

More videos:

Drowsy Shadow

Round and Round 

Hit and Run (don't worry - he's fine, just clumsy)

Singin' in Shadow's Room 

Silver Lab Puppy Meets Kong

Shadow the Silver Lab Comes Home

A day without Shadow is a day...

... without sunshine?... without cuteness? ... without an easy excuse to procrastinate at work?

Sorry for making you go a few extra days without your fix, but it's college graduation season and I was in sunny Boston for the weekend. Chris and Shadow had some male bonding time while I cheered on my family.

But here's a carrot: Check back early tomorrow for Shadow latest blockbuster. He's going for his EGOT, you know...

Drowsy Shadow

Shadow tries to get some shuteye but can't seem to find a comfortable position. I especially like his backwards ear here -- it's like my bed head in the morning ;)

Follow LauraShadow on Twitter

More videos:

Round and Round 

Hit and Run (don't worry - he's fine, just clumsy)

Singin' in Shadow's Room 

Silver Lab Puppy Meets Kong

Shadow the Silver Lab Comes Home 

Leon Goes Down

This just in:
Leon, Shadow's pet lion with the squeaky stomach and the crinkly behind, has been rendered mute.
"It is sad," said Shadow's caretaker, "but I it was bound to happen sooner or later."
Redirecting attention to the silver Lab's newest acquisition, a red chicken named Sam, she added, "Sam's looking pretty scared right now. I mean, if a lion can't even survive..."

Silver Lab Puppies for Sale

Shadow has four new half-brothers and two new half-sisters who need good, loving homes. They'll be eight weeks old on June 21, the first day of summer! Check out Blue Diamond Breeding if you'd like to take in one of these little guys. It takes some work, but it will absolutely be worth it in every way.

To New Heights

Shadow may be getting too big for the space under the coffee table, but our little genius has found a way around that. 

When we brought him home four weeks ago, the first place Shadow gravitated was the space under the living room coffee table. I suspect it felt cozy and safe. (See photo at right, taken before he made me remove the rug.)

He weighed less than 13 pounds and was small enough to fit under that table and all the kitchen chairs at the time.

Now almost double the size, he hasn't quite figured out why it's so much harder to crawl under these things. But as you can see above, last weekend (to my shock and guilty amusement) he discovered that there are also some advantages to his new height! (Though with a glass pane on top of the table, he won't be doing that again!)

Follow LauraShadow on Twitter

Need more Shadow?

Video: Shadow the Silver Lab Comes Home 

Video: Silver Lab Puppy Meets Kong

Video: Singin' in Shadow's Room

Video: Hit and Run (don't worry - he's fine, just clumsy)

Video: Round and Round

Shadow Goes to School

The first day of school is often cause for celebration and pictures. And so it would have been for us, had our little one not peed on his way out the door and refused to get into the car willingly last weekend.

Due to the low immunity of all puppies, Shadow hadn't interacted with another canine -- aside from glimpsing the neighborhood poodle and Samoyed -- since leaving his siblings a month ago. But with his 12-week vaccinations finally in his system, Shadow joined a local canine "kindergarten" group late last week in order to get comfortable with other dogs (and to learn a little obedience while he's at it).

Chris and I were excited to see how he would react to four other puppies, and it took less than a second for Shadow and a tiny Yorkshire terrier named Elmo to hit it off. Tails wagging, noses sniffing, backs arched to pounce at each other... they were either instant enemies or instant friends (both look the same to me at this point in my puppy motherhood).

Having missed the first class, Shadow was initially far more interested in getting to know his new buddies than learning to walk on a leash or "drop it." But crazy puppy mode eventually subsided, and the troublemaker blossomed into a straight 'A' student, earning compliments galore from us, from other parents, and from his beaming new teacher.

Shadow didn't come in a fancy car or designer wardrobe, but he left his first day of "puppy kindergarten" with a slightly larger brain, quadruple the number of friends, and quite possibly a bloated ego (and tummy).

Round and Round

Sam (the chicken) mesmerizes his buddy, Shadow, the silver Lab.

Follow LauraShadow on Twitter

Need more Shadow?

Video: Shadow the Silver Lab Comes Home 

Video: Silver Lab Puppy Meets Kong

Video: Singin' in Shadow's Room

Video: Hit and Run (don't worry - he's fine, just clumsy)

Pilates Puppy

Shadow needs his Zen time too. But I don't think he's doing it quite right...

Silence is Golden

I didn't want to jinx it yesterday, but for the second consecutive morning I arose to sunlight and silence. Both mornings came with feelings of shock, gratitude, disbelief, and a sudden pang of "Oh my God, I hope he's still alive!"

(That doesn't mean I didn't hear a few shorter bouts of barking a couple times during the night or early morning, but they didn't last forever. Can't blame a guy for trying, right?)

Whether it's Shadow's age, our training, or simply a sore throat from his Sunday night bark fest... it seems we have steered past one of the toughest stretches of the puppy journey and are nearing temporarily calmer waters.

Letting him practice being alone several times a day for short periods of time has definitely accelerated Shadow's development. If repetition is key to training a dog, it makes sense that 10 small quick exercises per day help prepare for the seven-hour overnight drill. Would you run a marathon without first practicing shorter distances every day?

Hit and Run (don't worry - he's fine, just clumsy)

Shadow the silver Lab puppy gets a bit dazed after a run-in with our couch. (Hint: Turn the volume up)
It's all that darn stuffed chicken's fault...

Follow LauraShadow on Twitter

Need more Shadow?

Video: Shadow the Silver Lab Comes Home

Video: Silver Lab Puppy Meets Kong

Video: Singin' in Shadow's Room

Back to School

“So what kind of dog did you get?” the librarian asked today as I checked out 10 canine training books. It had been a month since my last visit, but pre Shadow I was at the local library several times a week picking up manuals on how to prepare for a puppy. I thought I had all the theories down… but evidently Shadow didn’t read the same books.

This second round of studying was spurred by the worst of several horrendous nights and mornings, the frustration from which hurting my interactions with my husband. Something had to be done.

It all started when – realizing we couldn’t get up at 3 a.m. for the rest of our lives to take Shadow to the “bathroom” – we didn’t answer his cries last night.

The experts say answering a puppy’s cries will only reinforce the behavior (with some leeway for the first week when he can’t hold it). I knew that before Shadow arrived. But the experts don’t specify that dogs can literally cry/whine/bark for hours in a row, until their throats are hoarse. Then it’s a hoarse cry/whine/bark for another hour.

At 5 a.m. this morning, under the sheets with my iPhone as Shadow yipped and yipped away, I searched Google for some magic bit of wisdom that I’d missed. Unfortunately, all I found were things I already knew and inane rants from people with no business responding to online forums. (What gives with that, really?)

But how do you train that out of a puppy, aside from going four weeks with nightly sleep deprivation and crossing your fingers when the light goes out.

They say some of the greatest ideas come under duress. Well, today I brainstormed and implemented a technique that can be done on the weekend if all owners work elsewhere, or throughout the entire day if someone is home.

Rather than going out of my way to make him feel like a part of my routine, today I sunk into my work and paid only enough attention to take care of his needs. I spent the next eight hours moving Shadow between his playpen and his crate, exiting either room the moment he began barking, and remaining out of sight (telepathically praising the creators of Google Docs) until he stopped and I could return.

I can’t quantify it in terms of volume or pitch, but there have been no more three- (or even one-) hour screeching sessions, and my stress level has plummeted like investor confidence in Greece.  A few more days of this and I expect to have a quiet, confident puppy in no time.

As a novice dog owner who frantically and frustratingly read every article I could find on the subject, I strongly advise giving this a try if you’ve got Fido-induced raccoon eyes. Or if you ever plan on getting a puppy, jot it down. Trust me, you’ll need it!

Check back later for highlights on all sorts of other puppy problems, and what techniques worked (or failed) for Shadow and his new puppy parents!

A Not-So Harrowing Journey

Thank goodness for technology. While away from Shadow for the first time, being able to actually see how he was doing was a Godsend.

Packing light has never been my strong suit. Even as the town car sat outside waiting to whisk Chris and me away on our Italian honeymoon last year, I was kneeling at the top of the stairs struggling to re-stuff the suitcase that had taken me a week to fill and that I’d just discovered was over the weight limit.

In the process, I left a pair of Chris’ most comfortable sneakers across the ocean. Instead, I brought an assortment of women’s sandals for every outfit and fashion level. A few never actually made it onto my feet, and I’ve since carried the guilty memory of my new husband walking about 10 miles a day in 90 degree heat in arch-pounding shoes.

To some extent, that spurred me to begin reforming my over-packing ways. But it wasn’t until our little silver Labrador entered our lives that it even occurred to me I could fly anywhere as an exclusively carry-on passenger. (Previously that had the same ring as: “You can run the NYC Marathon tomorrow.”)

This past weekend, Chris and I flew to Ohio for a family wedding. While we’d been looking forward to it for some time, Shadow’s later-than-expected arrival meant he would only be 11 weeks old when we left. (True, that’s about 2.5 in human years, but I’m not sure how comfortable I’d feel about that either!)

I would have done anything to get home to my baby sooner, and tapping my toes at baggage claim simply wasn’t an option. This was going to be an in-and-out travel experience, with a tiny grey wagging tail at the finish line.

First up was the sitter, and thankfully my brothers happily agreed to watch the little guy. Like me a few weeks ago, they also have several decades of pent-up puppy yearning. They’d been versed in rabbit, guinea pig, fish and turtle, and had fed and walked our neighbor’s dogs several times, but this would be the first time a) with a non-housebroken puppy, and b) spending the night.

On the morning of departure, we woke up super early to feed and walk Shadow. Ordinarily, he’d be up by 5:30 anyway. But sensing that we couldn’t sleep late this weekend anyway, Shadow decided he’d snooze until we had to wake him up. Har-dee-har, Shadow. Very funny.

By the time we passed the little guy off, our house was sprinkled with sticky notes describing each treat and when to give them to him; the dining room table was covered with every dog-related item we owned (Bitter Apple, Nature’s Miracle, “Out!” cleaner); the freezer was stocked with peanut butter-filled bones; the basket atop Shadow’s crate was stuffed with his favorite toys; and a six-page instruction manual was awaiting each of the eager dog-sitters.

Needless to say, I was a tad reluctant to let go.

I was concerned about what he would eat if left even for a few seconds, where he would have accidents, what he would do to furniture, whether he’d get so wound up from male bonding time that he’d hurt himself, and whether he’d be so hyper that my brothers would never want to watch him again. During the week, I jotted down every tip and instruction (on meal time, safety, the bathroom, etc.)  I could think of as I went about my daily routine. “If I never spent much time with Shadow or another dog,” I asked myself, “what would I need to know?”

It’s a bit long to post here, but if you’re interested in getting a copy to use as a template for your own travels, e-mail me at LauraShadow219@gmail.com and I’ll send it right over.

The guide definitely helped settle my mind, as did having my brothers stop by the day before we left so I could go over a few things and show them around. I trusted them completely… but there was another four-legged factor of which I was wary.

At the wedding, I carried my cell phone everywhere, constantly checking for texts and wondering whether no news was good news. I was relieved at cocktail hour, when I got a photo of Shadow slumbering with Sam, his stuffed chicken. I quickly shared it with Chris’ aunt, who was on the same pin-and-needle cushion, having left her six-month old light cream Lab back home as well.

While we should have taken better advantage of a dog-less night’s sleep, Chris and I had a great time at the wedding, made it from runway to house in barely an hour, and came home to find everything and everyone intact.

Even better, Shadow didn’t seem to have regressed much being away from his training for a couple days. (Though his babysitter looked like he could use some recovery time!)

Thanks guys, for looking after my puppy. He says let’s do it again soon ;)

Get the latest immediately by following LauraShadow on Twitter.

Did you miss something fun?

Video: Shadow the Silver Lab Comes Home

Video: Silver Lab Puppy Meets Kong

Video: Singin' in Shadow's Room

Photos: Shadow Gets Pretty

Photos: Snoozing

Photos: Our Retriever Learns to Retrieve

Photos: A Whole New World

Photos: Growing Up

Tips: Some Tidbits

Growing Up

         

Shadow's gained almost 10 pounds since coming home to us as an eight-week-old baby. I wonder if he understands why it's getting harder for him to fit under the kitchen chairs and coffee table...

A Whole New World

The Calm After the Storm

Oh my God, I feel like I've just run a marathon... or emerged from a week stranded in the woods.

After an hour of grocery shopping and other errands, I came home to find that Shadow wet his bed. Not his fault. But then he went puppy crazy for the next 90 minutes, biting, scratching, running and flipping all over the place on the leash, and acting in such a way that I couldn't allow him near our neighbors' kids because he was too hyper.

Figuring I'd exhaust some of his pent up energy, I took him outside for a game of fetch and chase-your-owner-all-around-the-yard. I was having a blast. He was having a blast. Then he stumbled upon some more interesting feces left by the neighbor's dog (who should not even be in our yard, let alone defecating there), and decided it might make a tasty treat.

Within two minutes he was whisked inside his play pen and a call frantic phone call was placed to his vet. "Just watch him," she said, adding that it's gross but all dogs do it. Phew, okay.

After a first-time tooth brushing (all he wanted to do was eat the brush),  it was time to clean his bed. During this time he had another accident in the pen and cried for the better part of the next half hour.

When I looked like the novice mother of triplet toddlers (hair frizzy in all directions, body sagging, raccoon eyes), it was finally time for dinner. When finished, he conked out under the coffee table, enabling me to pop a beer and regain my sanity (or at least take the edge off a bit).

Now the former devil is chewing quietly on his bully stick and leaning his adorable little face into my feet. And I once again become a sucker...

(Sorry for the glorified Twitter post... but if you want to know what it's like to raise a brand new puppy, this is as real as it gets!)

Progress

 If dogs could go to college, Shadow would be a shoo-in. He's already got the merchandise, the golden boy good looks, and lots of smarts!

Shadow has made great progress in the last week in terms of obedience and behavior. Our biggest breakthrough is that he will stay put with a treat just a few feet away -- even when Chris or I move behind him -- until we give the "okay." There is something special about how he looks up at me, waiting for my approval, like he’s a little kid.

In terms of biting/mouthing/nipping, he's still got work to do. Sunday night, however, he made a breakthrough.  While he was in a calm state, Chris and I each began scratching his belly. The moment he pressed his teeth into one of our hands, that person would cry a high-pitched "ouch!" and both of us would either turn our attention elsewhere or leave the room entirely. We repeated this many times, and finally he began to keep his mouth closed.

Today and yesterday, it was amazing and so rewarding to see him working it out in his head that he isn’t supposed to use his teeth. Like a fish gulping air, he now opens and closes his mouth but the vast majority of the time doesn’t actually bite. I’ve actually felt him soften his mouth when my hand (my fault) accidentally strayed to his teeth. Because it’s natural for a dog to play bite with his siblings, there’s something really touching about him holding back so as to not hurt us.

Like his accidents, there are still nips, but they are pebbles compared to boulders.

He isn’t going to win any obedience competitions, but I have it from several experienced dog owners that a 10-week-old puppy who can already sit, stay, lay down, and offer his paw has a very bright future : )

Speedbumps

Just finished three-hour deja vu, cleaning up accident after accident... then the accident he added while I was cleaning up. Two steps forward, one step back, right?

Our Retriever Learns to Retrieve (or at least tries)

On Saturday, under beautiful blue skies and weather more typical of late summer, Shadow learned to play "fetch."

Shadow the Victorious

It was a step-by-step process for him -- first realizing he was supposed to go get the disc, then that we expected him to return to us, and finally that he had to actually give his new toy back -- but within a few minutes he was racing back and forth like a true outdoor dog.

It really is amazing watching him work things out in his head and change some small behavior in accordance with the new knowledge. More about that tomorrow, but for now enjoy the photos of Shadow and his flying disc.

Very good job, Shadow ;)

(Doesn't he look so proud?)

Snoozing

Even Shadow has trouble dragging himself out of bed after a nap. Here he emerges a few inches at a time -- with plenty of rests on his exhausting three-foot journey.

Some Tidbits

Shadow spent much of the beautiful 80-plus degree weekend outside, learning to play fetch (pictures tomorrow) and still trying (ugh) to eat dandelions.

Here are a few discoveries I've made that new dog owners might find helpful:

- A good hand lotion is a must. Even obsessive compulsive hand washers do it more often once the dog arrives, turning even spring or summer hands into sandpaper.

- Dogs dream, and in Dream Land they often bark, "run," and spasm. The first day Shadow came home, this caught me off guard and I feared something was wrong. However, as is also the case with people, there is a clear difference between sleep spasms and seizures.

- The area rug my husband had for three years lasted an entire week under the wrath of Shadow. In addition to accidents (which are hardest to clean on rugs), he saw it as a toy to be pulled up and unraveled. In its place, we invested in a cheap interlocking exercise mat. Not only does it protect the wood floor, it's soft to sit on and individual squares can be removed for cleaning after accidents.

- Baby oil works great to remove sap from dog hair.

- Filled hollow bones are the canine equivalent of babysitters. I have a few already stuffed with peanut butter and kibble (there are also pre-filled ones, but DIY is cheaper) sitting in a plastic bag in the freezer. This was an ingenious tip passed on to me by a family friend. Shadow thinks he won the lottery when he gets one, and the fact that it's frozen inside buys me more time as it takes him longer to lick out all the filling.

- I'm in the process of finishing two puppy playlists (without ultra loud noises or things that will scare Shadow).. When I'm finished, I'll have one playlist full of songs I will actually enjoy listening to while he's around, and another of soft (sappy, boring) songs that would drive me crazy on repeat but are soothing to Shadow when he's alone.

- There are hundreds of toxic plants out there, and many are in our yard. As soon as Shadow began feasting on all the dandelions, I got the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) application for my iPhone so it would always be with me. There are many other resources as well, but the app I have was free, lists every plant that can hurt your dog (or cat or horse), and includes both descriptions of symptoms and photos of the plants.

- Shadow sleeps a lot, but because I have to be on guard as soon as he wakes up, finding time to exercise is a harder than I'd expected. Sometimes I can manage to get in a 30-minute run, but otherwise I use the 10-Minute Solution DVDs. Each contains five 10-minute workouts, so I can do 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 minutes... depending on what Shadow allows!

- We didn't want Shadow to be too focused on food, so Chris and I initially rewarded his bathroom achievements with praise and affection rather than treats. After too many bouts of leash tugging and puppy freak outs, I threw my hands up last week and began giving him just half a treat immediately after each time he goes outside. It's made a huge difference; I only wish we'd done that from the beginning.

* If you have a tip of your own you'd like to add, please send it to LauraShadow219@gmail.com, along with your first name and the name and breed of your pet. I'll collect them and use the results in a future post.